Starting early on the 2nd day at Au Pied du Mont Chauve(website HTTPS://www.famillepicard.fr/ with English translation) we tasted multiple Chassange Montrachets as well as one Montrachet, priced at $850 per bottle. Frankly, I was pleasantly surprised they would open that expensive bottle for us. It was a well-balanced bottle and all of their wines were good, I just could not justify the price/quality ratio they offered and it being the very first tasting not knowing what to expect I at least passed on buying any wine there. But I do recommend a visit to try for yourself.
Next was lunch and OMG what a bucket list kind of place. An elegant designed restaurant in the middle of a field with impeccable food and service complimented by a vast wine list and a great sommelier whose knowledge to produce a great bottle at a great price matching the food was unsurpassed. Au Fil du Clos(website https://www.aufilduclos.fr/) I can highly recommend. The food was stunning and the service was some of the best.
We went to Le Caveau d'Auxey(website: https://www.caveau-auxey.fr/) where we spent way too much on wine. Le Caveau d'Auxey is a Co-op of multiple vintners in the Auxey Duresses area of the Cote de Beaune with primarily white Burgundy. The vineyards are somewhat uphill from the valley and sit between Mersault and Monthelie just south of the Pommard vineyards. I have always liked the wines and I also have enjoyed the Monthelie wines. You occasionally see them in the USA but they are not a major area compared to others. But you find great values which led us to buy way too much wine. The price/quality ratio was great enticing us to buy. In a future Blog, I will list all the wines I purchased that I can recommend.
The next stop was another Co-op that is privately owned by a long-time acquaintance in Puligny Montrachet Julian Wallerand, owner of Caveau Puligny-Montrachet. I have known Julian for close to 20 years now and always buy wine from him when I am there. He concentrates on smaller vineyards with high-quality wines that are affordable to most French people. Hence I usually find some outstanding wines at fairly low prices. When I have compared my purchases at Julian's to New York prices of the same or similar wine in general I pay 30% to 49% less delivered to my front door in Florida. Outside his wine warehouse, he has a nice casual wine bar and when we were there the place was packed. The place is a money machine. Of interest, Julian's father, the original owner of the Caveau, was the first Master of Wine in the world and is known for writing the only definitive book on the Montrachet vineyard. Pretty good pedigree if you ask me. Our visit demonstrated something that can happen tasting wine that I have written about in the past. Sooner or later you taste a wine and see God. You obsessively spend the rest of your life hunting down that experience again and hopefully, the bottle costs $20 or less(used to be $10, inflation). It is a spiritual experience and I have around 8 of them. When we arrived the place was crowded and Julian was very busy but he graciously greeted us and cleared out an area to sit down and do a tasting. He said to pick something out to taste. His wines are displayed in racks as well as plain cases on the floor and he has a menu to select from. I noticed a Domaine Bachey-Legros Chassange Montrachet 2021 for $44.50 per bottle, frankly a decent price for a high-quality White Burgundy. The reason I picked it was at CIBO our first lunch in Dijon we had the same Domaine with vineyards in Santenay 2021 and loved it. So I figured it would be just as good. OMG, without exaggeration immediately on tasting the wine all 5 of us went into shock. Our Eyes opened wide, what just happened! After tasting close to 25 wines by that time we just hit the motherload and found the holy grail. What a beautiful wine, with complex flavors on the nose and palate. Velvet mouth feel. No heavy oak, extremely well balanced, and a long long finish. What a quality wine. It is the first one I can recommend and tasting it made the entire trip worth it. It has been decades since I have tasted a wine like that that appealed to everyone in the room. What a joy. So buy Domaine Bachey-Legros Chassange Montrachet 2021 for $44.50 per bottle from Julian(the latest NY price not including tax or shipping was $96 per bottle). Also consider the Santenay, the last NY price not including tax or shipping was $60 per bottle.
Our last tasting of the day was at Laurent et Fernand Pilot(website: http://www.vinpillot.com/). The tasting was scheduled for 6:15 PM in the evening as the winemaker was in the field working the vines and had to come in from work to showcase his wines for us. He and his wife were very hospitable and he opened barrel samples of his current wines all of which are biodynamic wines. All of them were good but just not my style so I did not purchase any but others in our group did.
I learned some hard lessons today. First I am too old to do 4 intense tastings showcasing 12 or more wines per Domaine in a day. All of us were just exhausted and worn out. I am too old for this. Not that it is not fun because it is and you are tasting the top 1% of high-quality Bourgogne wine in the world from producers the majority of the population never sees and the tastings are intimate and personal many times in the winemaker's home. It sort of sets you up. I mean you got this far and got an appointment and you are not buying today?? You sort of feel obligated to buy. Interestingly even with that attitude sometimes you cannot buy. They either don't sell direct or they sold out of what you just tasted. You have to ask yourself why did they have me taste that wine when they don't have anymore? But then it comes full circle. Yes, there are no more but we do have 3 bottles left, would you like to buy those last 3. Guess what happens. In the future, one maybe two tastings in the morning, a formal sit-down lunch then back to the room to take a nap and dinner later. It really is all I for one can handle today. All of us decided we could not handle any more food and wine so we canceled our dinner reservations and got together at the Hotel lobby and had some of our leftover wine with a cheese and charcuterie plate that was more than enough. What a day!
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